[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> good morning, everybody. what do you say? it is wednesday, wednesday, july 18th. this is the full court press on current tv. welcome to the program today. this is where for the next three hours, we will be taking a look at all of the big stories of the day. here in our nation's capitol is where you will find it, around the country and around the globe and taking your calls at 866-55-press. i tell you what: don't expect

any action from congress on the drought even though over half the country is experiencing drought conditions, crops are burning up. republicans in the houses of rep representatives refused to hold even hearing, not even one hearing on what may be causing this drought. they would rather hold eric holder in con tempted of court. outrage. today's current news update, all of the latest out in los angeles, here she is lisa ferguson. hi, lisa good morning. >> hi, bill. good morning. good morning, everyone. more calls for the g.o.p. for romney to release tax returns. ron paul is saying he thinks it would be good for romney politically and it's what the people want. rick perry is adding his voices to the debate. yesterday, he reaffirmed his position that candidates should be open about their tax documents, although he wouldn't specifically mention romney. but we know it's what he is

thinking. perry called on romney to release his returns back in the primaries in late january. obviously, romney put out his 2010 returns and an estimate for 2011 but nothing else. it doesn't look like we can expect anything else at least any time soon. romney's brushing off those remarks from the g.o.p. telling a local pittsburgh station yesterday, people in his party think this is a non-issue and if he just releases those returns, all of this will go away. that, in his experiences, if he does put out his returns, the democrats will twist them into a negative talking point. so now we've got ron paul and rick perry in the mix, and interesting that both those requests come from texas since that's where the president was campaigning yesterday. mr. obama says he wants to be a pioneer of insourcing rather than the outsourcing pioneer he has lamed romney. the romney camp painted the president as non-american and called things policies foreign

and john sununu said the president doesn't understand america. more with bill back int after the break and more in chat. see you there. few others are going. >>it doesn't get anymore real than this. >>occupy! >>we will have class warfare. >>i'm being violated by the health-care system. >>we're patrolling the area looking for guns, drugs, bodies. >>we go in and spend a considerable amount of time getting to know the people and the characters that are actually living these stories. >>the award winning series "vanguard" only on current tv. we know that back to school time means back to school germs. that's why lysol partners with schools all across the country providing resources designed to help teach healthy habits. so make sure you add lysol no touch hand soap and lysol wipes to your "back to school" list. that way, the healthy habits they learn in school will reinforce the good habits you've already taught them at home.

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does breathing with copd weigh you down? ask your doctor if spiriva can help. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio and on current tv, this is the bill press show. boy scouts say, god bless america. we will continue to preach and practice intolerance. oh, boy. here we go. hey, good morning, everybody. what do you say? it is wednesday, wednesday, july 18th. so good to see you today. welcome to the full-court press. we are coming to you life, coast to coast right out of our

nation's capital here at washington, d.c. you will find us right in the heart of the action. go to the u.s. capitol building and turn left a couple of blocks, and there we are right on capitol hill in washington, d.c. bringing you the news of the day here from the nation's capitol where, yes, the republicans yesterday refused to schedule a hearing on the current heat wave and what's causing it even though farmers crosses the country are bemoaning the loss of crops, the price of corn the price of products in the supermarkets beef and pol re. republicans don't want to think about it. they would rather vote, hold another vote to repeal obamacare obamacare. other news around the country and around the globe all of it here for you on today's full-court press. you get a chance to join the conversation. >> that's what makes ist so much fun here on the full-court press

every day by giving us a call at 866-55-press and tell us what these issues mean to you. we are coming to you live on your local progressive talk radio station on current tv and on certainsirius xm this hour and all three hours, you can join the chat room. >> that's another thing that's a lot of fun. go to current's website, current.com. and sign up to the chat radioed and get in there. and you continue to hold the conversation with people all around the country who are listening and watching and talk about the issues of the day. >> that's the most fun you can have next to coming in studio and sitting alongside peter ogburn and dan henning. very few people get to do that. >> cyprian bowelding. lding.

like president obama does, you have a ralph raffle and people come in. >> step in our shoes for a week. sure sure. >> i didn't say for a week. >> for a day. >> for a day sure. >> if goaling up well -- getting up well before the sunrises. >> president obama raised 3 or $4 million that way. >> sure he was out on the road yesterday down in texas, of all places. man, i've got to tell you, that ain't a blue state and that ain't a purple state either but he has high hopes for texas. yesterday he went down there one more time in front of a big town hall saying that of affordable

care act is nothing being ashamed of. >> the affordable care act otherwise known as "obamacare" was the right thing to do! i do care. >> yes, he ought to campaign. he says this is the end of him. one last campaign he's got except maybe unless... >> this is my last campaign. unless i move down here to austin. run for dog catcher down here. >> how about if he goes down to texas and runs from u.s. senator. he is young enough. why not. >> sure. >> john quincy adams went back to the house of representatives

after going to the presidency. >> that would be huge. >> back as a united states senator. drive them crazy. >> totally. >> he also could be there as, you know, as a big help on president hillary clinton. whoever what a line-up. keith eltison, great congressman from minnesota is going to be along. eliot spitzer, current tv's "viewpoint" host joins us as he does every wednesday morning a little bit later in this hour. lynn sweet covered the white house for the chicago sun times as a friend of bill and shame on the boy scouts. but first: >> this is the full court press. >> on this wednesday, other headlines making news, just 10 days before the 0 lil pick games start in london things are going very very poorly after the company hired to provide 10,000 security officers for the games announced they had week it was

at least 3500 people short and couldn't even guarantee that any of its employees would actually show up to work london cab drivers are now in protest because of the special olympic game planes painted. cabbies are not allowed to drive in those lanes awes they are for competitors and officials and sponsors, "the telegram" says cabbies blocked traffic across the city causing massive gridlock. >> yeah. it does seem to me you would think they would let them in that lane. right in the? >> uh-huh. >> this whole system seems really flawed. i mean a special lane for competitors makes sense. a special lane for competitors, sponsors, and all of that stuff. >> yeah. >> all of the sudden. >> i am telling you it is corporatism at its worst.

>> the american idol replacement resume mil spins, the latest name mariah carryey. she is reportedly interested in a spot next to randy jackson. she has been rumored to have been considered by idle in the past -- idol and fergy is another name that has placed up for steven tyler and jennifer lopez. >> all are more exciting than the names we have heard. >> rob portman. >> ken conrad, our friend from north dakota. retiring this year. he said he has been talking to go american idol about being a judge. another day tjadeh spigot smith testified yesterday on ways to stop human trafficking. the hill reports husband will smith and 11-year-old daughter willa were watching from the

gallery. afterwards they took photos with senator john kerry. >> thank you, dan. well, you know, we have made a -- let's talk about boy scouts. we have made a lot of progress in this country. no doubt about it. we have come a long way in terms of getting -- becoming more to rant as a people, in terms of getting rid of all forms of discrimination, still a long way to go. sister-in-law, we have come a long way. we can be proud of that in dealing with people of color. and women's rights and lately particularly in dealing with the rights of the lgbt community. lgbt community rather. look at all of the states now that recognize same section marriage. the obama administration is trying to reverse the defense of marriage act and will not defend

it anymore. we will look at the fact president obama has gotten rid of that in the pentagon called "don't ask/don't tell." in many areas in terms of racial discrimination, disgrim nation against gays and lesbian s and other forms, we have come a long way. and every once in a while, a bunch of goof balls comes along just to prove that, you know what? not everybody is on board here we still have a long way to go. a bunch of goof balls, boy scouts of america, bernard 112 years. started, of course as a british institution. there is almost nothing today that speaks more to -- for most people. right? to america american values american flag, you know, growing up to be proud young americans learning the right attitude and the right values and everything than the scouting program.

girl scouts and boy scouts. boy scouts may be even more so. yesterday, the boy scouts said no. we have taken a look because some people very long raised the issue. we have taken a look at our policy of discriminating against gays, against our policy official policies that no gay boy scouts will be allowed and no scout leaders will be allowed and we have decided it's best for the country and best for the boy scouts to continue to discriminate and to ban gay members, gay scouts and to ban gay leaders. oh, my god. what a huge step backwards. don't you think? 866-55-press. 866-557-7377. you know what? here is what gets me about this. first of all, it's wrong, wrong, wrong. there is no way to defend that decision and shame on them. i mean this is the 21st century. they are aking like it's the

18th century. i think it's sad for a couple of reasons. number one, because think of all of the thousands, hundreds of thousands. i don't know. millions of kids who happen to be gay who will not ever have that experience of the boy scouts, which i enjoyed and got a lot out of. i will never have that opportunity to learn the skills that will boy scouts teach or to learn the values and the attitudes for the most part which are very positive about taking responsibility gay men would not have the opportunity to use their times and their skills as volunteers to be scout leaders. so we are losing all of that talent and depriving all of these people, hundreds of thousands of them of those opportunities.

but what's sadder still is you have an all american institution. you never see the scouts without an american flag. it's considered an all-american institution. here is this great american institution teaching anti-americanism teaching anti-american values, teaching intolerance, teaching discrimination. if not hatered and ridicule of the gay lifestyle. it's just a sad, sad day, i believe. now, there are those who have been working to change the boy scouts and they remain optimist optimistic. he was on with eliot spitzer last night and is he we are going to make it. we are just not there yet. >> there is no doubt in my mind that, you know, within a decade at the very most we will see a change in the policy because at the end of the day, the boy scouts of america, one of these country's great cultural

institutions, part of this country's moral bedrock as an eagle scout, it's important for me to see this policy change because it is alienating literally hundreds of thousands of people who otherwise might be interested in the boy scout's or want to participate but they don't want to be involved in an organization that continues to engage in this kind of discrimination. >> maybe some days the boy scouts will come to their senses and decide that the constitution does mean something and teach kids constitutional values of equality. in the meantime, this is a bad bad decision. i think the question now has to be raised for mnlz and millions of american families, knowing this, knowing the boy scouts discriminate, would you keep your kids in the boy scouts? not to get personal right here because our sons are beyond boy scout age but not peter ogburn.

you have a kid in scouts. >> a seven and a four-year-old, my oldest kid has been in boy scouts. >> and the ogburn family? >> we knew going into this there was sort of a cloud over the boy scouts. we knew they were in the middle of a year, two-years long sort of review of what they were going to do about it. >> their committee said we ought to keep this. >> we were weighting to see what the committee said. now that the committee has spoken and now that they say that they are going to keep this policy in place, we are not letting our kids participate in boy scouts any more. we explained why and he's not going to be involved with them any more. >> and a gray? he is only 7. is he part of this decision? >> no is the answer. we are at the point now where we are not sure how exactly to sort of explain it to him. >> yeah. >> it's a little sensitive at that age. but we are going to, you know, explain that you are not going

to be involved in it anymore and we are not sure how to go about it. we made a decision we are just not going to give them any of our time, any of our service, any of our money. >> good now, peter. i am proud of you. all right. all right. preaching what -- practicing what we preach and dan was mentioning yesterday, if i can say that that, dan, when he was in the scouts became waiver this policy and had already gone up to the rank of star scout star life and eagle, quit the boy scouts in protest over that policy. so good for dan. we got it for and for that reason i am nothing going going to attend a jamboree. >> i became life. i will turn in my badges. would you want your kids your niece -- not your nieces. your nephews to continue to be

part of a discriminatory organization. you might have them join a racist organization. they are preaching un-american values. shame on the boy scouts. 866-55-press. >> this is the bill press show. or, get some fresh air. but this summer, we used our thankyou points [ man ] ever year, sophia and i use the points we earn with our citi thankyou card for a relaxing vacation. ♪ ♪ sometimes, we go for a ride in the park. maybe do a little sightseeing. or, get some fresh air. but this summer, we used our thankyou points to just hang out with a few friends in london. [ male announcer ] the citi thankyou visa card. redeem the points you've earned to travel with no restrictions. rewarding you, every step of the way.

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the hour. we'll be back as we close "the stephanie miller show." >> on "the stephanie miller show" in suburban america this [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> radio meets television, the bill press show. >> talking boy scouts 24minsn minutes, they announced they are going to continue to ban all gays from scout's either members, scout members or scout leaders, and by the way, they said -- i mentioned this earlier, that they were doing so

because most of the parents, they said, of boy scouts that this is what they want. they are anti-highgay. the parents are. therefore, they are going to continue the anti-gay. can you believe that? like they are taking a poll. right? in some southern states maybe most of the parents would be against having little black kids as parted of their troop. does that mean because the parents are racist they are not going to allow any blacks or hispanics? that logic? by that logic, we would still have slavery in this country. this is totally un-american if you ask me. carl is calling from louis, delaware, a beautiful town on the delaware county suffolk county. >> you are a recruiter for the boy scouts. most people don't want. >> no, i am not. but go ahead. >> you now because i am going to have my son join up.

>> because you want -- you are anti-gay and you want to teach that to your son? you want to teach your son intolerance? is that what it's all about? >> how about i am pro-straight. >> how about being pro-american. i think that's what the boy scouts are supposed to be all about, carl. it doesn't matter whether you are gay or straight. right? >> i am not pro-american. i served 26 years in the military three different branches. >> you didn't learn much. you didn't learn much. what were you over there fighting for? were you over there fighting for the right to discriminate? you were fighting for the right of people to come home and then discriminate against other americans? you know what, carl? you don't know the first damn thing about the constitution of the u.s. it doesn't matter catholic or jew, black or white, gay or straight. and for you to preach that to your son i mean shame on you. it's a sad sad day. and you and the boy scouts

deserve each other. >> this is the bill press show. they don't want an increase in the debt ceiling. they don't want immigration reform. they don't want to do anything about global warming. they just want to shut it down and go home. ed is calling from frederick maryland. what do you say, ed? >> caller: good morning. >> bill: good morning. >> caller: on the republicans, i think they're in the final >>it's the place where democracy is supposed to be the great equalizer, where your vote is worth just as much as donald trump's. we must save the country. it starts with you.

[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] be >> radio meets television the bill press show now on current tv. >> it's 33 minutes after the hour. it's a beautiful wednesday july 18th. heading up to over 100 degrees again in our nation's capitol for the fifth day in a row but we are keeping up with it and keeping up with the news of the day here on the full-court press brought to you by the communication workers of america, the great men and women of the communication workers under president larry koen the

union for the information age. find out more at cwa-union.org. we start on current tv leading up to our great line-up in the evening with cenk uygur and the young turks, jennifer gran home and the war room and we are pleased every wednesday morning to welcome our good buddy eliot spitzer to the program. eliot, how are you. >> hot already. >> i know. we are hot in more ways than one here. >> hot under the clar about politics? sweating like a banjee because i did my run. >> you have been on the air earlier than i am. >> i want to talk about one thing you talked about, too, this announcement by the boy scouts yesterday that god bless america, we are going to continue to discriminate here in the 21st. >> it's a great american tradition.

they are going to keep it up. it's a shame obviously. it is, i think so contrary to what we want that organization to stand for and congtrary to the long-term interest of that organization, running contrary to everything that is changing for the affirmative in our social dynamic. you ask kids these days and they say of course we accept, you know, people of different sexualities. it boggles the mind. >> it does. it's like they are swimming upstream because the country is pretty rapidly, particularly in this area of the lgbt community. right? >> it is moving at warp speed and, you know, it was one of those issues where if you had 15 years ago sort of any understanding of what was going on, you would say, you know, it's a mat area of time. younger folks understand and may be. but it's happening faster than most progressive folks thought it might. the boy scouts and republican party, obviously most of it is on the wrong side of this issue as well. they have going to be a party of grumpy old men and the boy

scouts will be in a corner in a different century. >> they are going to change or fall you have run for office, served in office, been attorney general, as governor. what is up with mitt romney and his tax returns? how can he win on this thing? >> bill, there is no answer. what began if he had two years ago said, i am giving you two years and this is it. it wouldn't have been the screaming and shouting. he would have maybe gotten away with it but this drip, drip drip, death by a thousand cuts. people in his party said mitt, you must be hiding something. there is no way at this point from a simple pr perspective he can overcome the presumption. i don't think there is anything illegal in his returns. i don't. i do believe that they did use loopholes.

he is stuck fighting this day being asked why won't you release them and now when he does they will be picked apart in every opportunity that he used to minimize taxes. he is in a bad spot. >> you know, what's funny is the list of republicans calling on him to release his returns grows daily. ron paul and rick perry and the national review. >> rick perry may not have realized he was talking about his party. you have to cut rick a little bit of slack here other than that, republicans are looking at this the way normal people are. >> yeah. one of the few times that's happened. they are saying, you know come on. get on the program here. >> and of course, so the romney campaign trying to shift back. right trying to go change the subject. they send out john sununu as a spokesperson. >> that was effective. >> saying, i wish barack obama would learn to be an american?

this is a replay of 2008, you know, in my book "the obama hate machine" i called it the otherin of barack obama. they try to paint him as not american, foreign, different. >> look they at least changed the topic for two hours until sununu had to apologize. he has done this with regularity though. he would pop out there over the past couple of years and make comments that were just a little bit over the line of what acceptable even in the lower standards that now dominate our political discourse and, of course, he under cuts his own utility because he under cuts his party and makes them look terrible. >> you can see eliot spitzer tonight addnd every week night to current tv on the "viewpoint" 8:00 p.m. eastern, 5:00 p.m. pacific. a quick note at sununu when i started on crossfire buchanan was running for president again

and john sununu was one of the co-hosts on the alternating with bob novak and bob novak god rest his soul would say he is a ticking time bomb. one of these days, he will blow up. it was true then and it's true today. it is kind of amazing that they have squandered. if you were a strategist on the other side, after the job numbers came out a week and a half ago, you would have said okay. now ramp up. talk about the one issue you have an advantage on. you look at the headlines and what everybody has talked about. they have utterly failed. >> they have. we talked a little bit about last week, too. but mitt romney hasn't shaken this is his offshoring of i have been vestments. not talking about outsourcing jobs. >> they did a better job with his retroactive retirement concept. >> exactly. >> here is a guy who manages to turn his larger thematic, he can

run a business which, you know, people could talk about into a notion of retroactive retirement, you know, on the show, we said, okay. bernie madoff said i ret proactively retired before the ponzi scheme started. i am not responsible. this is one of those oxymorons, you say who came up with this. >> i heard yesterday george w. bush said he retroactively resigned before the iraq war started. >> their campaign has given us the etch-a-sketch. talk about message discipline, this is not a campaign. you know another thing that occurs to me campaign that is run so poorly, you begin to wonder whether the guys managerial skills, the only thick he is running on, really exist. >> what is amazing, they have narrowed his whole appeal to bain capital. right? his experiences at bain. not governor of massachusetts. >> that's right. >> not his leadership of the

olympics. it's all about bain capital. >> right. >> they sort of, you know built their own nest here. >> the reason they can't talk about his tenure as governor is he actually did something good as far as health care with an individual mandate. in the world of the republican party, that's become anathema. one thing he may have talked about substantively is off the table. >> with an individual mandate and a responsibility penalty if you don't buy it or whatever they call it. >> or was it a tax? i forget. i am confused. >> i notice, also eliot, eliot spitzer, host of current tv "viewpoint." you have a blog for slate, slate magazine. your latest blog was on libor. we talked about this last week. >> yes. >> you mentioned tim geithner's role. he came out and said he knew what was going on and he warned them, you better clean this mess up. >> right. >> how do you read it now? >> first of all, i voiced my

opinions on slate and i feel bad. i have been writing for slate for a couple of years and now what i have done is transformed what was a bi-weekly column into a daily blog which kind of mirrors one of the segments we do on the show every night. >> great. great. >> tim geithner is a little bit of a pickle here because he wanted to get out ahead of the libor stuff saying, look, we were good. we sent a memo over to the bank of eaching land saying this is a problem. there is corruption. clean it up. the problem is bank of england said that's not what you said. they said he sent a memo that said there are some ideas that might improve on libor. that was word for word what the banks wrote for tim geithner. it wasn't the feds' idea. it was the banks. more problematic according to the bank of england, there were never integrity issues. the new york fed knew at the time there were serious

integrity issues. if they didn't alert the bank of england, forget alerting them. you don't just if you are the cop on the beat if your job is to ensure the inat the timet teg gritty of the most important interest rate. you do something. it begins to look -- i hate to say it like joe paterno's memo to penn state. that doesn't absolve of your responsibilities. there are cya memos. the fed once again failed. this has been the story throughout the history of the financial ice. the new york fed, single most important banking regulatory body out there utterly failed at every turn to do anything until the banks were bust, in which case it took its checkbook and opened up with tax dollars and wrote tax dollars. >> there are the republicans who still say hands off wall street. let financial institutions on their own and they will be fine.

>> you know we are living in a period where people are learning the wrong lesson ignoring facts and to our detriment. it's not just partisan bickering. it's long-term consequences. if you don't learn, you have to relive it. this is scary stuff. >> you still have -- going to calculate here quickly. 13 hours before the show. maybe too early to ask you: what's up tonight? >> thirteen hours? i could go on a vacation between now and then. yeah, call me half an hour before. we will still be fillguring it out. we will be reading the papers, figuring out what the quitement is on the day and, you know, i think one of thing we will be talking about actually is the fascinating article in the times last week about what was going on at the fda about the spying on scientists. you know, this is one of those stories and i read it and said really? wow. this sounds crazy. absolutely crazy. you have a government agency

where there was scientists about the medical veracity of certain products and they wanted to make sure their ideas were heard. they were not only spying on them but their communications with members of the hill and the white house. this is really something is amiss there. and we are going to be poking at that. >> great. great show every night, and eliot, thank you for your time this morning. good to talk to you as always. >> love enjoying time with you in the morning. >> eliot spitzer, host of the "viewpoint," 8:00 p.m. eastern on current tv. >> on your radio, on t.v. the bill press show new on current tv.

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the sheriff of wall street. >>this show will be unique because we will not settle for the easy answers. >>the former governor of new york eliot spitzer joins the new news network. >>every night we will drill down on the days top stories in search of facts that inform. we don't stop until we get answers that are truthful, serious, not based on simplistic answers. we're here because we're independent. >>only on current tv. [ ♪ theme music ♪ ]

>> this is the full court press, the bill press show, live on your radio and on current tv. >> twelve minutes before the top of the hour lynn swede in as a friend of bill in the next hour we will be joined by sam stein from huffington post. you know, i have written a book my new book out, "the obama hate machine." we were just talking with eliot spitzer about the latest from the romney campaign and what it is. we have seen romney putting forward no positive idea in the whole campaign. he has said nothing. i mean at the most he said i will continue the bush tax cuts. nothing new from romney about -- he attacks obama about cratenot crate creating jobs.

nothing. nothing. the entire came pain is based upon like it was four years ago. it's based on hate hate obama. >> that's all they've got. hatred of obama and with us this idea that obama is not one of us. all after all are he is black and foreign and he lives in a foreign country and he was born in a foreign country. just continues, non-stop. the obama hate machine. one thing i talked about in the past. it's happening today, every day. and yesterday, okay? the romney campaign puts out there as their spokesperson not just some guy who pops off somewhere. this is john sununu former governor of new hampshire, former chief of staff to the white house, chief spokesman for the romney campaign who comes

out to respond to president obama's comments about anybody in america who has made it has had the help of a good education system, for example and good public services and everything. and john sununu is turning that again into an attack on obama as somebody who doesn't love this country. here is sununu first of all on a conference call with reporters. >> the men and women all over america who have worked hard to build these businesses their businesses from the ground up is how our economy became the envy of the world. it is the american way. i wish this president would learn how to be an american. >> can you imagine that? i wish this president would learn how to be an american. i mean sununu was forced later to apologize but he didn't really back down. i mean he said it. he said it with talking points for the romney campaign. he was on the conference call for reporters set up by the romney campaign then he goes on

fox news set up by the romney campaign speaking for mitt romney. listen to this string of obama hate machine. he summed it all up here. >> this guy doesn't understand how to create jobs. so there is no surprise. there should because of that statement. no surprise on why he failed so ms.erable over the last four years in terms of job creation. he has no idea how the american system functions. we shouldn't be surprised about that because he spent his early years in hawaii smoking something, spent the next set of years in indonesia, another set of years in indonesia and frankly, when he came to the u.s., he worked as a community organizer, which is a socialized structure and then got into politics in chicago. >> see how he strings them all

together. hawaii? last time i checked was one of the 50 states. part of the united states of america. but he's got it as something exotic and indonesia. >> that's a muslim country. oh my god. probably went to a madrasa. he was spokemoking pot as a teenager. oh, my god. then he comes back. what does he do? what's his job? he is a community organizer. this is all recycled 2008 crap as if there was something socialistic or communist i can about being a community organizer, helping people in their neighborhoods get jobs and get better schools and better police protection and then, of course, he got involved in politics. where? in chicago, the scepter of corruption. right? a string of hate red of the it is the obama hate manny. it lives. it is the romney campaign. and now, john sununu at the direction of mitt romney.

i keep coming back to that. at the direction of mitt romney sununu out there spewing hate. >> that's all they've got. talk about un-american. jesus. >> this is the bill press show. been. at the local level, among the ranks of teachers. as dennis told us yesterday, again, sununu is dead wrong. it doesn't mean there are fewer students. it doesn't mean there are fewer classrooms. it doesn't mean there are fewer schools. what it means is there are

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for the next hour. how about this? michael rivera in queens in new york, very happy he got a signed copy of my book "the obama hate machine" for his birthday. he says he and his wife put on three television in the morning when they are getting ready for work. they used to watch morning joe. they discovered us and now they watch morning bill. all right. michael, good to have you on board. thank you. martha samons says, also she is a huge fan of the show and she thinks romney might have received a tax reverend. >> that's why he doesn't want us to see his tax returnsreceived a tax reverend. >> that's why he doesn't want us to see his tax returns. >> dave bowser not a fan of the show or president obama says you people have to be out of your minds. obama is the largest threat to this country since the end of the cold war. he is a planned -- he has a planned agenda to bring this country to its knees under the guise of fairness and equality. >> that's funny. i thought fairness and equality

was what america is all about. guess you don't know. >> this is the bill press show. >> bill: he heard the kkk changed its mind when they when a carpet is clean and fresh, it's irresistible. experience this in your home with resolve deep clean powder. its moist powder penetrates deep, removing three times more dirt than vacuuming alone while also neutralizing odors at their source. it's a clean you can see smell, and really enjoy.

resolve deep clean powder. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning, everybody! and welcome to the "full court >> good morning, everybody. what do you say? it is wednesday, july 18th. good to see you today. welcome to the full-court press here on current tv, a new progressive morning show on current tv the only progressive morning show anywhere. good to have you with us today. we will tell you what's going on. we will take your calls at 866-55-press. yes, we talked about the last hour continue to talk about, just when we think we are making progress in this country along

comes some bunch of goof balls to show that we still have a long way to go. the latest goof balls are the boy scouts of america who announced yesterday they are going to continue to discriminate against gays, no gay scout members and no gay scout leaders. they are going to could notntinue to preach and practice intolerance. how sad. more on the full-court press. first we start with today's current news update from lisa ferguson joining us out in los angeles. good morning. >> hi, bill. good morning. good morning everyone. the obama campaign is suing ohio secretary of state for its early voting cut-off date. state election law eliminates the last three days before election day from the voting calendar. democrats argue that is a crucial time for voters to get to the polls. republicans say those three days need to be clear in order to prepare for the election. back in 2008, laws did not restrict voters from casting

their ballots that weekend. according to the obama campaign 30% of all of those came in early and 93,000 votes came in those final three days. as always ohio will be important for this year's election. no republican candidate has ever won the white house without taking ohio. we know rick perry reaffirmed his stanchion all candidates should be open with their tax returns but he is weighing in on voter id lays. attorney general eric holder called texas law -- called the texas law a poll tax. now, perry is saying those comments are meant to incite racial tension. democrats argue voter id laws would restrict many minorities from voting. federal cot will likely block that under the texas voting rights act. turns out those voter id laws do not come free. a new study by nyu says getting identification for the polls is actually quite expensive, especially for people without transportation. in 10 states with new voter id laws, nearly half a million

voters do not have access to a vehicle. more bill after the break, and we are live in chat right now. current.com/billpress. >>it's the place where democracy is supposed to be the great equalizer, where your vote is worth just as much as donald trump's. we must save the country. it starts with you. [ man ] ever year, sophia and i use the points we earn with our citi thankyou card for a relaxing vacation. ♪ ♪ sometimes, we go for a ride in the park. maybe do a little sightseeing. or, get some fresh air. but this summer, we used our thankyou points to just hang out with a few friends in london.

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does breathing with copd weigh you down? ask your doctor if spiriva can help. [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> on your radio and on current tv, this is the bill press show. >> well t experiencing drought conditions and the republicans in the house of representatives refusing to even schedule a hearing on this drought as to what is behind it and what we might do about it. they have their priorities straight. right? yeah. maybe they would rather schedule another vote to repeal romney romney -- i mean, obamacare. they have only done it 33 times so far. good morning, everybody.

a lot going on today. it is wednesday, july 18th. this is the full court press good to see you today wherever you happen to be in this great country of ours, we are there with you on your progressive radio station and current tv, join the chat room in the talking about what we are talking about give us a call 866-55-press. busy days on the campaign trail. busy days in washington, d.c., and that keeps people like lynn sweet busy. she covers washington, covers the congress and the white house for the chicago sun times. in studio with us this morning hi, lynn. >> good morning. >> good to see you . >> good to be here. >> you didn't bring your baseball clothes in today. >> the season is over. >> it's a short season. >> it was a shorted season but for your listeners we were

talking about the women reporters, bad news babes did beat the women members of congress. it was a very good game. >> bad news babes. >> some teams play. we practice a lot and play one game. >> it showed. you crushed them the lawmakers. >> it was my colleagues. they were great. >> i kept hearing about debbie wasserman schultz. >> and a great outfielder just a great around athlete. >> who was the pitcher? >> i am blanking. >> you went to the game. >> i forgot who the pitcher was. peter ogburn, tell talk about teams. we practice a lot every morning and some days well we will learn and know what we are

doing. >> you were on your game all the time. >> thank you. guess who was back? he said he is very happy to be out of the spotlight, out of the hoover institute, w. >> i really don't want to be in the public eye any more. and i feel a certain sense of liberation not being out there. >> you like it better? >> i really do. the years were awesome. i was famous and powerful but i had -- i have no desire for fame and power any more . >> i am um umh-uh /* /* um-um. >> it was awesome. >> i was like a kardashian. i am famous. >> i do believe him when he says he is happy to be out of the limelight right now not to have those pressures all the time. safer word you say analyzed.

>> it's in contrast to the bill clinton and jimmy carter who had very public post presidential careers. >> and thrive on it. >> yes. >> absolutely. bill clinton with nelson mandela's birthday. >> an eye tinkerary. >> it's like there is a new post he has created, which is the post -- i am the post-president. >> right. i think in a way a model was jimmy carter who travels the world, not clearly at the profile that bill clinton has but has had a big agenda a big agenda. i think he uses his presidential library as a launching pad more than having bill clinton has the library in arkansas, but his business base is in new york and his office there.

so if you look at what former president w. is up to just his library, well all of this only lets me think, you know, what would the obama post presidency be like? else be so young when he is out of. i don't think so he will slip into anon i am itty. huffington post and keith ellison from min associated a who, despite what michelle bachmann says is not a member of the muslim brotherhood but first. >> but first. >> other headlines making news, lynsanity is done in new york city. can it survive in houston, texas as? nba star reported signing a

$23.1 million deal with the rockets after the knicks refused to match the offer. it returns, the rockets claimed him back in december. he played seven minutes before building dropped and being picked up. >> lynnsanity is over? >> we have lynnsanity. >> lynn sweet sanity. it was big in madison square garden. >> all of that is worthlesseless. >> at a timeit might be collect orr's items. >> katie homes and siri cruz said a garb alan garbage truck hit them. a paparazzi hit that are car. katie has stayed in the public eye with their daughter since

the divorce announcement with tom crews taking her to central park, garb stores ice cream shops and other locations in new york. >> katie homes has shown women how to handle a divorce. >> we do not know. >> we don't know what the numbers are. it must be a pretty good deal. >> stay nag 12,000 dollar a month apartment. >> not bad. >> if you are looking to take a road trip maybe you will consider what u.s.a. and rand mcnally called the best small towns. 5 teams drove 30,000 miles hitting 30 different cities and came down with the winning list. >> ashveleville has to be. >> gainesville, texas. most beautiful bard town kentucky >> best food in santa fe and the friend friendliest in murray and delray beach florida. the winner and rupture up will

be featured on the travel channel. >> other than santa fe, for get those places. why don't they send me. >> put the show on the road. >> good idea. >> lynn, there is so much i want to talk to you about this morning to get your take on. let's start. we haven't had a chance to talk about this. i don't know whether you saw this. john mccain was asked -- i am not making this up. john mccain was asked: well in 2008, you looked at mitt romney as a vice presidential candidate possibility. why did you choose sarah palin over mitt romney? and mccain said quote, sarah palin was a better candidate. what does what does that say about mitt romney? >> well, it's -- we know how that played out. but if we could go back to that point in time, i think and hold your horses but i could see the

rationale. they were looking for a game changer. they had issues. i can't remember where where i read this. the optics of two wealthy men running wouldn't cut it. remember how john mccain got in trouble with his answer of how many homes he had. remember, it was partly because his wife owned some of them and i guess in his head he was trying to sort it out. how would it look to have a ticket where between two, the two men, they own a dozen homes? from the get-go, how would that worked. >> obama has one. >> i don't want to read too much into it, but i think i don't think it's necessarily complimentary. >> there are many things he could have said. >> if you follow the logic through which is not necessarily the case in what politicians say, you know, when you are thinking of vice presidential candidates, that's somebody that

you could trust to step into the presidency immediately. he said, i think sarah palin would have made a better president. >> part of his story and his legacy right now the -- you know, what we have and if you are running the history or we know from the book game change has said that it was a bad choice, bad betting. well, i don't blame mccain for saying, i want to defend myself at the time it made sense. >> he is trying to deal with it. mitt romney is still two weeks later dealing with the issue of his tax returns. >> uh-huh. >> what -- how do you read digging in his heels the way mitt romney has done over releasing tax returns. >> it makes sense from his perspective. >> why? >> i am not defending it as a reporter, of course i want it out. because he knows the downside of just having a pressure to release the returns is not as bad as what the obama -- what

the opposition can make when he releases them. >> or what's in them. >> right. >> he must know, don't you think? >> i don't. >> don't you think he paid no taxes at all. >> i don't think it's that. his tax return that he did put out was, you know, this thing. >> but he gave 23 years of tax returns to john mccain. >> i know that they exist isn't the issue. whether or not you want to hand this to your opponent who -- think of it this way. each year of returns has stuff in there he could slam him on. even if you are not saying he did anything wrong. it's the choices. what's at issue here is not if he did anything illegal saz much as the system is created to the ad vantage of somebody who has so much money they could lose every loop hole around.

isn't that what obama is running about, the system isn't fair for people who don't have a paycheck or have to pay x amount of taxes. am i being too nice? >> i think you are too nice. i think you are wrong. >> okay. >> i think this is something -- >> i was just saying politically why he is not doing it. >> i am also talking politically. >> okay. >> i think politically it means mitt romney will talk about this until november the 5th and he ought to talk about something else. this is put out by think progress today. 15 prominent republicans so far, george lithium levels, bill crystal, ron paul governor robert bently of alabama. walter congressman. pete sessions, congressman from texas, of course, governor hailey barber. john freese, they are all saying and the national review just

came out and they are all saying, mitt, release the damn returns. you have got to get it over with. >> one thing i sensed, they get stubborn. they like dob things when they feel like it and when they have to. he released the one return when it was at some critical point in the primary. he is -- they don't like being looked like they also caving to pressure. that might be silly stuff because you believe he could just release it. it's over and move on. these republicans probably feel the same way. it may not be the case. and isn't there a better time to do it? why release it this way? maybe opening day of the olympics and the then have your vice presidential pick. >> let me put it this way. >> yes. >> all mitt romney has talked about is whether or not he is going to release his tax returns. they tried to change the subject. >> sure. >> all people are talking about, the sunday shows last sunday. >> right. >> all about tax returns. why do you think that's positive

for mitt romney? why do you think that's a good idea for mitt romney? >> the alternative would be until campaign's real problem is that the obama team has been very good about turning discussions andto the tax returns, they need something more because bill mitt romney if he wants to change the conversation, so you think -- i love it they were talking his strategy here so he releases another year or two, three, of tax returns. >> do what his father did. twelve years. do what obama did. 12 years. do what biden did. 12 years? >> you think that will change the conversation? >> y.e.s. >> won't it be on whatever is in those returns? >> yeah. but do you -- >> obviously, i agree. i am all for disclosure. >> you know the reason he won't is because there is stuff in there that he knows? >> it's going to look -- be

controversial and that they could make into ad after ad. >> this is a lose-lose with romney. he is going to have to -- by the way, let me ask you this one other thing. john sununu. >> yes. >> he has known for 10 years. why aren't they better prepared for this? why don't they have an answer? >> thiswin i think the thing that surprises me more about why they are not prepared is whyat he did at pain. it's -- bain. did they think the opponents were going to sit on their hands. the tax return issue, they knew what was going to happen and they don't care right now. maybe they will care. they re-assess constantly. >> they better care. lynn sweet covers the white house and congress for the chicago sun times in studio with us.

and yesterday, john sununu said barack obama's problem is that he grew up in gone ease i can't, grew up in hawaii and learned politics in chicago. we will find out what a chicago reporter has to say about that attack on chicago politics when we continue on the full-court press. don't forget you can always call us at 866-55-press. >> this is the bill press show. [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >>only on current tv. here we are on the "full court

here we are on the "full court press" this tuesday, june 12th. good to have you with us. >> announcer: on your radio, on tv, the "bill press show." new on current tv. i can't stand these spots. those spots are actually leftover food and detergent residue that can redeposit on your dishware during the rinse cycle. gross. jet-dry rinse agent helps wash them away so the only thing left behind is the shine. jet-dry rinses away residues for a sparkling shine. hey joe? yeah? is this a bad time? no, i can talk. great -- it's the 9th inning and your hair still looks amazing. well, it starts with a healthy scalp.

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